MK: More Infiltrators than Olim in January

More infiltrators than legal olim entered Israel in January, according to MK Danny Danon, who chairs the Knesset's Aliyah and Absorption Committee. "This is a situation that is inconceivable," he said Thursday. "We must use all means at our disposal to eradicate the phenomenon of infiltrators, before it is too late," he said. "An immediate and absolute expulsion is the solution."

Regarding the idea of repatriating the infiltrators, Danon added: "Some call it expulsion; I call it defending the homeland."

Danon brought the committee to southern Tel Aviv, to see from up close how the lives of olim are affected by the influx of illegal workers.

"Children and women are afraid to walk the streets," Danon said. "Crime is surging, unemployment is high and the Jewish character of the neighborhoods is disappearing. The infiltrators are the most tangible threat on the state of Israel, with a potential for hundreds of thousands that are waiting to arrive."

Erez Kaatabi, commander of the police station at Levinsky Street, told Danon that 30 infiltrators often live in a single three room apartment. They save up hundreds of thousands of shekels, buy businesses and "build a state with its own rules here," he said. Prostitution, drugs and crime have become routine, the policeman added.